Law Lines Vol. 35 No. 2 Winter 2012

Transcription

LLAGNY Law Lines Vol. 35 No. 2
Editorial Staff
Jacob Sayward
Jennifer Wertkin
Co-Editors
Maureen Moran
Taryn Rucinski
Copy Editors
Ellyssa Kroski
Art Director
Bacilio Mendez II
Original layout design
Publication Info
Law Lines is published four times
per year by the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY).
Issues appear in Spring, Summer,
Fall, and Winter.
For membership information, contact Sally Munson at [email protected] or Rosalinda Rupel at
rosalinda.medinarupel@
cliffordchance.com.
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Contributions, comments or news
items for Law Lines may be sent to
Law Lines Editors, [email protected].
All contributions submitted for publication are subject to editorial review and are published at editorial
discretion.
Winter 2012
LLAGNY does not assume responsibility for the statements advanced
by the contributors to Law Lines nor
do the views expressed necessarily
represent the views of LLAGNY or
its members.
Acceptance of advertising is not an
endorsement of products or services of advertisers.
LLAGNY © 2012
ISSN 0148--0553
Law Lines
Vol. 35 No. 2 Winter 2012
President’s Message ................................................................. 2
Editor’s Letter............................................................................ 3
Major Milestones ...................................................................... 4
Member Photos, Winter Meeting............................................. 5
In Their Own Words: LLAGNY Members Pay Tribute to Anthony
Burgalassi, 1945-2012 .............................................................. 7
Selected Writings of Anthony J. Burgalassi ............................13
Law Lines Interview with William R. Mills
President-Elect LLAGNY ..........................................................15
Returning to Library School ....................................................22
Law Librarianship in Australia ................................................24
60 Sites — Abridged, 4 Sites This Newsletter .........................26
Why Shepard’s in Print Still Matters ......................................27
New York State Bar Association Includes Court Libraries in its
Report on the Impact of Funding Cuts in the Courts .............29
Moving Forward ......................................................................31
November 9th LLAGNY Board Meeting Minutes ....................33
December 7th LLAGNY Board Meeting Minutes ....................34
January 11th LLAGNY Board Meeting Minutes .......................35
Restaurant Week at the Palm in Tribeca ................................36
Winter 2011-2012 Crossword Puzzle ......................................38
Crossword Answer - "Gone Corporate" ..................................39
- Caren Bieberman
As I sit here writing this column, my year as LLAGNY
president is drawing to a close. On July 1, 2012, at
12:01 a.m., I turn the gavel over to Bill Mills.
I want to take a moment to ask each and every
LLAGNY member to seriously consider volunteering
to serve on a committee next year. Since LLAGNY
is strictly a volunteer organization, we need our
members to submit program ideas, to speak to students about what it’s like being a law librarian, to
talk to vendors about sponsorship of LLAGNY programs and events, to consider grant and scholarship applications and choose who will receive
them, to write articles for Law Lines, to help work
special events, to suggest people to run for or to
agree to run for LLAGNY offices, and a myriad of
other tasks that don’t get done without your help.
Our annual dinner with be on June 5th at the
Trump Soho and I am pleased to announce that we
will be honoring Gitelle Seer at this event and her
election to life membership in LLAGNY. I have decided not to invite an AALL representatives to
speak at this year’s dinner because we want to focus on honoring Gitelle and also reminiscence
about LLAGNY members that we lost this year.
We have a few upcoming programs I would like to
mention. On May 1st at 6 pm at the offices of
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, LLAGNY
will be presenting a program on Hot Topics in Library Employment: What ARE Employers Looking
For? Our speakers will be Donna Conti (Career Resources, Inc.), Diane M. Goldstein (BST America,
LLC) and Jerneeka Sams (InfoCurrent).
And on May 9th at 9 am at Thomson Reuters, 3
Times Square, we will be presenting a program entitled Walking the Tightrope Between Licensed Data Restrictions and User Access. We have Linda
Jean Schneider of Morgan Lewis and Loretta
Orndorff of Cozen O’Connor coming from Philadelphia to present this program.
I hope to see many of you at one of these programs
or at the June dinner.
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Caren
Winter 2012
Today I sent out an email announcing that applications are open for three $1000 LLAGNY grants for
regular or student members to attend the AALL
Conference. We are also giving out four $250
grants for attendance at the PLL Summit or an AALL
Workshop. I urge anyone who wants to attend the
conference, the summit or a workshop to apply. There are very few requirements and we are
truly fortunate to be able to offer these
grants. Please apply! I want to thank Bloomberg
Law, Bloomberg BNA and LexisNexis for providing
us with the funds to make these grants possible.
President’s Message
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Editors’ Letter, Winter 2012
- Jennifer Wertkin & Jacob Sayward, Co--Editors
Greetings,
Winter 2012
Our winter issue of Law Lines contains a wide
array of interesting articles that span the various sectors of the LLAGNY community. We are
delighted to have several articles written by
new(er) LLAGNY members! Alison Sherwin has
written a piece on her journey as a student returning to graduate school after a long break.
Jenelle Blevins contributes an interesting piece
on law librarianship in her native Australia.
Deborah Heller lets us know why Shepard’s in
print still matters (and it does!). Regular Law
Lines contributor Rachael Moller describes her
firm’s recent move and what that has meant
for the library’s role in the forward-thinking
technology of the firm. Jacqueline Cantwell
and Deborah Melnick of LLAGNY’s Government
Relations Committee provide us with information on how the New York Bar Association
has included libraries in their report on budget
cuts in the court system. We also have some
regular features. Karen Gruska provides us
with a restaurant review and Gayle LynnNelson continues her rundown of “sixty sites.”
Trezlen Drake interviews LLAGNY Chair-elect,
Bill Mills. There are also several photographs
from the Winter Meeting by our fabulous photographer, Barbara Schubeck, a crossword puzzle on technology by Emily Moog, and Major
Milestones of LLAGNY members.
Much of this issue, however, is dedicated to
long-time LLAGNY member Anthony Burgalassi
who passed away this year. Mary Matuszak has
compiled a lovely tribute to Tony from LLAGNY
members who knew him well. Additionally, we
include a bibliography of Tony’s work. Tony
became a lifetime member of LLAGNY last year
and the LLAGNY community mourns his loss.
On behalf of the Law Lines Committee, we
send our heartfelt condolences to his family.
Thank you to all of our contributors.
Best,
Jennifer & Jacob
PROFESSIONAL
Jean Davis is currently serving as Interim Library
Director of Brooklyn Law School Library. She and
the staff look forward to working with incoming
Law Library Director and Associate Professor of Law
Janet Sinder in summer 2012.
Sandra Deane, Reference Librarian at Kelley Drye &
Warren LLP, states that she is reaching a Major
Milestone in her career as a librarian:"I am moving
to Florida in March 2012, and wanted to thank all
the very kind and generous librarians who helped
me during my 15 years as a professional in the
field. Some I worked with and others I met through
LLAGNY/SLA. As I end my professional career as a
librarian, I just wanted to say a special thanks to
the few prominent ones who helped me to make it
in this field: Mary Matuszak, Paulette Toth,Eric
Kaufman, Alison Alifano, Catherine Burke, Ann
Lewis, Liz Ohman, Paula Prudenti, Robin Traylor,
Ralph Caiazzo, Francesco Gagliardi,
& Patricia Renze. Thank you all and God bless
you!"
Elaine M. Egan has recently joined Shearman &
Sterling LLP as their Information Center Manager. Elaine is a long standing member of LLAGNY
having served both on the Board and the Sponsorship Committee. She is also a member of the Thomson Reuters Practice Innovations Board,
SLA, ARMA and the Financial Women's Committee.
Lisa Fricker has been promoted to Senior Research
Librarian at Dickstein Shapiro LLP.
Elizabeth Keizner (nee Elizabeth Yates) is now an
Information Advisor in the NY office of Linklaters
LLP.
Emily Moog , Law Librarian at Carter Ledyard &
Milburn LLP, received a 2011 Perfect Attendance
award from the firm.
The ZRG Blog (http://
zimmermansguide.wordpress.com/), which posts
changes to the Zimmerman's Research
Guide,thanked Emily Moog of Carter Ledyard &
Milburn, for contributing a source for NY State Department of Labor Opinions: http://
www.labor.ny.gov/legal/counsel-opinionletters.shtm<http://www.labor.ny.gov/legal/
counsel-opinion-%20%20%20%20%20letters.shtm>
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Sheryll Rappaport is the new Director of Library
Services at McCarter & English, LLP in Newark, New
Jersey. After many years working as a Law Librarian
in Florida, Native New Yorker Sheryll is thrilled to
be back in her home area where she is enjoying a
respite from the heat. She looks forward to meeting everyone and being an active part of LLAGNY.
H.C. Sing ,Acquisitions and Serials Librarian, Brooklyn Law School, retired in January 2012. Mr. Singh
joined Brooklyn Law School in 1989; he assisted
Winter 2012
Sara Gras,Reference Librarian and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, ob-
tained her M.L.S. from the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies and is
a welcome new addition to Brooklyn Law School
Library's reference staff. This semester, Ms. Gras is
co-teaching both Advanced Legal Research and Intensive Online Legal Research for Foreign-Trained
Lawyers.
Major Milestones
Anna Smallen, Reference Librarian at New York
County Lawyers Association, retired on February 2,
2012. She will greatly miss everyone in the library
community she worked with during the past thirty
five years.
band Ben Darvil who welcomed a second son to
their family on December 13, 2011. Sean Robert
Darvil weighed in at 5 lb. 15 oz. Mother, Father,
older brother D.J. and baby Sean are all doing well.
Elizabeth Yates of Linklaters and Anthony Keizner
were married in October 2011 in St. Michaels Maryland.
PERSONAL
Congratulations to Kathleen Darvil ,Reference/
Access Services Librarian and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, and her hus-
former Directors Sara Robbins and Victoria
Szymczak in building Brooklyn Law School's extensive collection.
Member Photos, Winter Meeting
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Kathleen Pritz, Sarah Warner
Benjamin Toby, Suki Scott
Winter 2012
Winter 2012
Member Photos, Winter Meeting
Maureen Cleary, Gregory Sargeant, Rebecca Newton, Cecilia Curran
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Neil Callaghan, Melissa Vigilante
Winter 2012
Andrew White, Bill Mills, Mary Matuzak
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In Their Own Words: LLAGNY Members Pay
Tribute to Anthony Burgalassi, 1945-2012
- Compiled by Mary Matuszak
Anthony’s passion and true dedication to his work always inspired us. We realize how cherished he was
as a co-worker, friend, and mentor through the numerous stories and memories that you have all shared
with us. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from those of LLAGNY.
Nanette, Elizabeth, Christopher, and Jessica Burgalassi
Winter 2012
Anthony Burgalassi was a colleague and personal friend of mine for almost 30 years. He
was the quintessential gentlemen. The most
good natured, witty, entertaining and colorful
individual that I ever had the privilege
to know. His special flair for preparing regional
Italian dishes made from scratch, and having a
story to tell about their origin, was truly an experience.
My earliest recollection of Anthony was when
he was the go-to reference librarian at the NYC
Bar Association Library. Back them he was
widely known as Tony B simply because library
patrons had trouble pronouncing his name,
much less be able to spell it correctly. In later
years, when he worked in private law firms,
he finally felt comfortable using his full name.
My having the same first name, whenever we
spoke on the telephone our conversations
always began with the same hilarious ritual
greeting: "Hello Anthony, this is Anthony.
...Hello, Anthony."
I will always cherish Anthony's friendship.
His presence could light up the room, and his
off-the-cuff quips made us collapse in laughter.
He was a devoted family man, friend of both
humans and canines, a devout Catholic, multilingual, and a world traveler.
His generosity was amazing. He was always
bringing goodies into the office, buying rounds
of drinks at conventions, and when I left
Rosenman he threw me a wild party. However,
as generous as he was he only gave us 66
years. It wasn't enough.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family
and with all of us, his friends. I know the pearly
gates were open wide for his arrival, and he
now has the angels in hysterics!
Megan T. D'Errico, Reference Librarian, Proskauer Rose
Tony was a Renaissance Man. He maintained
the Old World values, though he tended to interpret them as it suited him. He refused to
understand the “youth of today”, maintained
that chivalry was lost, loved the traditions of
the holidays and couldn’t understand why using certain terminology at work wasn’t appropriate. He loved the camaraderie of his friends
and was always in for a good time.
Tony loved everything Italian, the country, the
traditions, the food – OH, THE FOOD. He loved
to cook, as many were the beneficiaries of that
love and talent, and refused to alter his diet
when it was necessary for his health – “If I
can’t eat it that way, why bother?!” He was so
proud when his daughter traveled with him to
Italy and even that was surpassed when she
majored in Italian. He didn’t stop crowing
about that! But then, she was his daughter. His love and pride in Elizabeth and Chris
had no bounds. Each day, week had another
story, always ending in “The’re my children, I
love them”. His love for them was reflected in
the devotion they showed him when he was
sick. Tony was also a very religious man. As he
moved around, he always became active in the
parish church, in their school and, of course,
the choir. How proud he was when he was
asked to sing a solo! I saw Tony a number of
times after his retirement, when he could no
longer travel (though he did make the exception for the LLAGNY Annual dinner) and not
being able to participate in the choir was one
of his devotions he missed the most.
I know the angels are covering their ears as Tony gives his assessment of the world today, but
also beaming serenely as his baritone voice fills
the heavens as he sings their hymns.
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Winter 2012
*********************************
When I received Tony’s resume for the position
of reference librarian that was open in Rosenman & Colin, I jumped at the opportunity to
get one of the premier reference librarians on
the staff. That was one of the better decisions
I’ve made as Rosenman had the services of a
librarian par excellence and I had the friendship of an usual man. We went through years
of joy, tears, frustration and absolute happiness together.
Anthony D. Cocuzzi, Director of Library & Research Services, Milberg LLP
**********************************
As colleagues, but more importantly, friends of
Tony we were all hoping that he would recover
and feel better and enjoy retirement. I received such a beautiful Christmas card from
him, a serene view of a country church. In fact,
the NYPL at Lincoln Center had a Christmas
show of 4 Laurel and Hardy silents with live
accompaniment on Dec. 10th, and I sent him
the program plus a picture of L & H saying
"Quiet please, this is the New York Public Library!" I know Tony was a real Stan and Ollie
fan.
I never met a gentleman who loved Christmas
more than Tony, and who spread as much
cheer all year round! His research expertise
plus his calm perspective made every business
day a joy. And, as we all know, he was a legend
at LLAGNY.
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I think of Tony often and miss him. May you
rest in peace, dear Tony. May your soul rest in
the peace it so well deserves.
to spend time with his wife and children talking
about our days working side by side and the
crazy times we shared.
Rochelle Cheifetz, Director of Libraries,
Dechert LLP
I will miss Tony dearly and will never forget all
that he did for me -
**********************************
Richard Tuske, Director of the Library, New
York City Bar
Winter 2012
Just a few weeks ago I was delighted to receive
a Christmas card from Tony. Despite his ill
health he would always take the time each
year to ask how my kids were doing. When I
checked my work email on Saturday I was
deeply saddened to read Patricia and Anthony
Cocuzzi's notes about Tony's passing. Tony was
a mentor to me when I started working at the
City Bar in 1972. Despite his young age he was
already a seasoned veteran. He was the kindest and funniest person I had ever met. After
leaving the City Bar five years later I would
make a point of keeping in touch with Tony. I
was thrilled when I was offered the opportunity to work at the City Bar again in 1981 (Thanks
to the great Ray Jassin) and was honored to sit
beside Tony at the reference desk for many
years. You would be hard pressed to find a better law librarian to learn from than Tony B. Tony and I quickly became the dearest of friends
and when he asked me to join him filing looseleaf services "on the side" it began a journey I
would never forget. We worked four nights a
week, Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. On
weekends Tony would drive in from his home
on Long Island at 5 or 6 in the morning, after
each of us had about an hour or two of sleep,
and pick me up on the L.I.E. (he would slow
down put his flashers on and I would quickly
hop in the car. It must of looked awfully weird
for anyone driving behind him) I still cringe at
the memory of having to file 40 sets of the
Standard Federal Tax Reporter at Baker and
McKenzie in one day.
I have so many fond memories of Tony. I will
treasure each and every one of them. At yesterday's wake I arrived a little early and was
able
**********************************
Even from the time I first entered the profession, Anthony Burgalassi was a legend in the
New York law librarian community. Early in my
career, I can remember seeing him at events
and being in awe of his ponytail. (This was the
uptight 80s, after all. I didn’t even wear pants
to the firm until the late 90s.) Unfortunately, I
didn’t get to know him until the June Dinner
Boat cruise in 2005. We found ourselves on
the top of the boat looking at the Statute of
Liberty and enjoying a New York moment. He
was the unofficial LLAGNY photographer that
night and I think he took a few shots of me. I
remembering thinking that I finally made a
connection with the famous Tony B. When he
became ill in 2010, I sent him a get-well
card. Well you know, he sent me a thank you
card back! After that we developed a bit of an
email exchange. As a former LLAGNY President, he reached out to me frequently with a
friendly and encouraging email during my Presidency. Despite ill health, Anthony attended
last year’s June dinner to the delight of so
many of his friends; and was very appreciative
when LLAGNY voted him a Life Member in
2010. To me, Anthony was a true gentlemen,
and I will always remember him that way. –
Patricia Barbone, Director of Library Services,
Hughes Hubbard & Reed
********************************
One thing I learned in the early 80's when I was
new to the field, was that Tony was always so
willing to help in any way that he could. I am
Laird Ehlert, Executive Director, New York Legislative Service, Inc.
**********************************
Linda Corbelli, Research Librarian, Supreme
Court of the United States
******************************
I remember when I first started working at the
New York Bar Association back in 1988. Tony
was one of my mentors. I was a college kid just
starting out
and he
helped me
begin this
journey I
am still on
today as a
Librarian. It didn't take
long for me
to realize
that Tony
was a
jokester,
but he
knew his
stuff when
it came to
his work. I
remember
thinking,
"This guys
is crazy.....I like him". Most of you know what I
mean when I say that. I also had the pleasure
over the years to see Tony in an environment
not everyone has....at home.....with his family. I have vivid memories of the summer
barbeques he would invite me to. Seeing him
in a social setting, away from work, was beautiful to see. His love for his family was so evident. I remember when his children, Elizabeth
and Christopher, and their friends were tiny
they would jump off my shoulders in his pool
for hours. At his wake when I approached
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Winter 2012
When I came to
work as a librarian at the Association of the
Bar of the City
of New York I
had been a
member of the
New York State
bar for a couple
of years. But, I
neither went to
a New York law
school, nor
practiced in
New York, so I
needed a good
deal of help
with many areas of research
that involved
more than
McKinney’s. Tony Burgalassi was the magisterial occupant of the newly redesigned reference desk at the Bar Association, and a fantastic guide to all things New York. Also to all stories about library exploits in years gone by, to
the most helpful (or most fun) law librarians in
town, and to the best places for happy hour in
midtown. During my 1985 to 1989 tenure
there were other impressive librarians at the
Bar Association - Director Frederic Baum, the
illustrious Tony Grech - but Tony B. and Richard
Tuske, now Library Director, were the most
helpful (and entertaining) of them all. They
worked hard, helped countless lawyers and
knew how to have a good time away from the
marble halls of 44th street.
not surprised that so many people express the
same sentiment. Most people probably don't
know that he graciously served on the Board of
Directors of the New York Legislative Service,
Inc. from 1983 to 1996. His support and recommendation continued until the end. It was
so great to see him one last time at the June
dinner!
Nanette she immediately remember me and
said, "We were just talking about you!!! The
kids were asking where is that tall guy we used
to use as a diving board when we were little?". Tony would just laugh and smile as the
kids took turns jumping off my shoulders over
and over............. and of course snapping pictures constantly. I will never forget seeing him
in that light. The glow on his face. He was always the gracious host, but his love for the
family was very clear. Same was true of Christmas. We all have our fond memories of Tony. I still often find myself thinking of him and
cannot help but smile and sometimes I laugh
out loud when I think of some of the jokes he
pulled on people. I was deeply saddened by
the news of his passing. Over time that sadness has given way to joy, knowing he is in a
better place and no longer suffering. I will miss
my friend Tony very much, but I am grateful for
having known him and having the opportunity
to know his family. He is gone, but will never
be forgotten.
Kevin Couch, Supervisor of Copy Services, Association of the Bar of the City of New York
********************************
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Winter 2012
In Memory of Anthony Burgalassi. The Man,
the Myth, the Legend!: I owe all I have today to
Tony. My profession, my knowledge and skill of
law librarianship, but most importantly, Tony
helped me find the love in what I do and by
helping others. I met Tony in the summer of
’85 when I started working at the ABCNY. Tony
became my mentor and immediately took me
under his protective wing. He was always there
to answer any of my questions and to lend a
guiding hand. He readily and freely shared with
me all he knew about being a librarian, researching the law, keeping it simple, and ways
to inject humor in what we do. But always, it
was about being a true professional. Thank you
Tony!
Eric M. Kaufman, Head of Research Services,
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
**********************************
Tony was the perfect librarian. When you
needed his peerless experience and
knowledge, he was there. When you needed
someone with whom to commiserate, he was
there. And when you needed a laugh – offcolor or not – he was certainly there. I had the
pleasure of sitting next to Tony at his last
LLAGNY June Dinner downtown, and, while
sharing laughs, I had the feeling that I might
not see him again. Sadly, that proved to be
true. It is now the responsibility of those of us
who knew and loved Tony to make sure that
the memories and great stories endure. The
easy part will be that no account will have to
be embellished; the truth will do just fine.
Timothy J. Hanley, Research Librarian, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
**********************************
I first came across Tony Burgalassi when he
was at the Association of the Bar. I thought the
building would collapse when I learned he had
left.
Later, I had the pleasure and the privilege to
work with him at Rosenman & Colin and its
successor, Katten Muchin Rosenman. Fortunately, I was a grown woman who wasn't offended by his often ribald sense of humor. I did
my best to go right back at him with comments
unacceptable for this venue.
When he was thinking of getting a dog, I suggested the ASPCA where I had successfully
adopted my cat. He was doubtful but I persuaded him. We saw a cute little dachshund in
an office crate who became his beloved canine
companion Luca.
It was sad to see Tony's health decline. I miss
him.
Caren H. Rabinowitz
*******************************
When I became the Cataloguer at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, replacing Ann Reddy after 32 years, it was Tony B (as
he was known) who made me feel welcome.
He was a great help in explaining the collection
and all the fine points about the New York materials that the Association owns. He was a fantastic Reference Librarian and a living catalogue.
Throughout the years, he remained a good
friend and supportive colleague. We used to
meet for lunch when he took a Director's position at a law firm not far from the Bar Association. He loved his family, his dogs, and singing
in the church choir.
I was privileged to sit with him at the past
LLAGNY June dinner in 2011. As always, he
smiled through the pain of a long illness and
kept his sense of humor. He truly was "one of a
kind" and will be remembered and missed by
the many colleagues and friends he helped in
his lifetime.
Reference – As someone who was new to the
profession, I thought Tony knew everything! He generously shared his
knowledge. He wrote a column for the Record
of the Association of the Bar. Most often these
columns were recommended resources. Not
only did I keep these columns, I memorized
them. Twenty years later and I still use them.
Customer Service - Tony knew everybody! He
said hello to everyone who walked through the
doors and if he didn’t know them, he made
every effort to get to know them. He knew
what area of law they practiced and what their
interests were.
I first met Tony when, as a volunteer and new
LLAGNY member, I arrived at the Bar Association for a LLAGNY committee meeting back in
the mid 1970's. My first impression was that
Tony's curly head of hair concealed a quick wit.
Fun - Since I learned of Tony’s death, Linda
Corbelli, Helen Kostelas and I have been
reminiscing about the good times we had with
Tony. Do you remember the time we went to
Tony’s house?........What about the time we
went to a bar in Queens and Tony was dressed
in an ape suit?
I’m grateful for the time I spent with Tony!
Mary E Matuszak, Director of Library Services,
New York County District Attorney’s Office
12
**********************************
Phoebe Ruiz-Valera, Catalog Librarian, Cleary
Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
**********************************
Tony taught me three very important things,
reference, customer service, and how to have
fun while still remaining professional.
Winter 2012
I had the privilege of working with Tony
Burgalassi at the Association of the Bar. I was
attending library school when I was assigned to
the reference desk. This was the late 80s. The
legal market was in overdrive, Lexis and
Westlaw were in their infancy and print was
king. Lawyers and Librarians alike actually
came to the library.
Selected Writings of Anthony J.
Burgalassi
- Compiled by Mary E Matuszak and Kevin Couch
Anthony J. Burgalassi, “In Memory of Anthony P. Grech,” Law Lines (newsletter of LLAGNY) 14 (June 1990): 20–
21
Anthony J. Burgalassi & Phoebe Ruiz-Valera, “[Memorial to] Anthony P. Grech,” Law Library Journal 82 (1990):
624–25
Burgalassi, Anthony, J. “Mr. Burgalassi Goes to St. Louis, Mo.” Law Lines (newsletter of LLAGNY ) 29 (Summer
2006) p21-23
Burgalassi, Anthony J. and Nicole Williams “New York law: essential material for the practitioner” The Record
of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 41 (December 1986) p946-962
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “Living wills – the right to dies: a selective bibliography with statutory appendix” The
Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 42 (November 1987) p930-939
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “Connecticut law: essential materials for the practitioner”
The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 44 (January/February 1989) p92-100
13
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “New Jersey law: essential law for the practitioner”
The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 44 (May 1988) p299-509
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “Videotaping in the courtroom: selective bibliography with references to state rules and
statutes” The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 45 (December 1990) p978-984
Burgalassi, Anthony J. Current material in the Library of the Associaton of the Bar of the City of New York: a
selective list for the general practitioner” The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York p506
-569
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “Bankruptcy law: essential material for the practitioner”
The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 46 (April 1991) p337-347
Winter 2012
Burgalassi, Anthony J. and Daniel J. Jacobs “Published Bibliographies” The Record of the Association of the Bar
of the City of New York (1990)
Photographs
Burgalassi, Anthony J. “LLAGNY Fall Soiree & New Members Reception The Warwick New York Hotel, Thursday,
October 19, 2006” Law Lines 30 (Fall 2006) p 12 http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llagny/Law_Lines/
LL_fall06.pdf
Burgalassi, Anthony J “LLAGNY Annual Winter Meeting The Roosevelt Hotel, Wednesday, January 17, 2006”
Law Lines 30 (Winter 2007) p 14
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llagny/Law_Lines/LL_winter2007.pdf
Burgalassi, Anthony J. and Roseann Shea “Fall Soiree and New Members Reception October 18, 2007 New York
Marriott Marquis” Law Lines 31 (Fall 2007) http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/e-records/aall/8501660a/
news/LLAGNY_fall07.pdf
Burgalassi, Anthony J “LLAGNY Annual Dinner and Awards Presentation Meeting
June 11, 2008 Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Center” Law Lines 31 (Summer 2008) p 14
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llagny/Law_Lines/LL_Summer2008.pdf
Burgalassi, Anthony J “101st AALL Annual Meeting: "Energize · Explore · Evolve"
July 12 to July 15, 2008 Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR” Law Lines 31 (Summer 2008) p 17
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llagny/Law_Lines/LL_Summer2008.pdf
Burgalassi, Anthony J LAGNY Fall Soiree & New Members Reception
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008, 6-9 p.m. Tribeca Grand Hotel Law Lines 31 (Fall 2008) p 11
http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llagny/Law_Lines/LL_Fall2008.pdf
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Winter 2012
15
Law Lines Interview with William R. Mills
President-Elect LLAGNY
Winter 2012
How did you get into law librarianship? I was
working for law firm before I went to library
school. That firm put me through library school. I
was a math major at Stony Brook. When I graduated I didn’t know what to do. My only experience
was working in Stony Brook’s library. I knew how
to shelve books. That was the experience I had
when went to Wilkie, Farr and Gallagher.
I was hired by a
man who I’m not
sure had a high
school degree. My
supervisor worked
there 40 years and
had no sick days
until he retired. He
died soon after
that. I then worked
for other professional librarians and
eventually became
the head librarian.
But when I started I
was nothing but a
“glorified clerk” attached to the library. No shame in it. Everyone
who worked there who wasn’t a lawyer was a
clerk of some form or other. They were sufficiently impressed with me that they paid my tuition at
Columbia Library School. I did it in three years part
-time. I then worked there a little longer because I
felt that I owed it to them.
Why did you go to law school after you got your
library degree? I went to law school at Fordham
because I was young and single and hadn’t paid
anything for my education. I had saved up money.
- By Trezlen Drake
I decided I either wanted to progress in library
field if I had a law degree or become a lawyer. Tuition was $10,000 a year and I got a 3% government loan to attend law school. It seemed like a
good deal. I worked during the day at Willkie Farr;
I tried to go to Fordham part-time at night. After
the first semester I decided I wasn’t cut out for
that; daytime work and nighttime law school was
just too much. I left Willkie
Farr, got a part-time job and
switched to full-time day program. And, since Fordham
didn’t have any kind of summer school I had to catch up
with credits to be able to finish in three years. I took two
courses at NYLS during the
summer. I did it to enhance
my career in one way or another. I realized that I was
more comfortable being a
librarian even though I practiced as a summer associate
in a worker’s comp firm.
Why did you decide to go into academic law libraries after working in law firms? At the time
the job was becoming less interesting because
either the law or practice was changing such that I
was less of a law librarian and more of a SEC documents retrieval librarian. Getting documents faster and faster became tedious after a while. It was
not as interesting as it had been and as academic
librarian seemed to be.
In academic law libraries, one could be a law librarian, find legal things, arrange legal collections,
What keeps you motivated as a law librarian?
Everything changes so much. All the time. Mostly
technology. It has turned the tables on the technical services/public services divide. I’ve got to
admit, I used to look down my nose at technical
services librarians.
Actually, I guess I never did. I appreciated what
they did, but it seemed kind of dry to me. It didn’t
seem like the kind of thing to keep me interested.
I think the tables have turned now on reference.
No offense! The more interesting challenges are
getting technology to work for you rather than
making it so that you have to work for technology.
That’s a day-to-day challenge here and everywhere. And the technical services and systems
side of it (which didn’t even exist when I was coming up) is what produces the greatest challenge.
It’s getting technology to work; finding the right
balance of technology. It’s interpreting what a library and a library’s program is for the people
who provide the technical and systems side of
technology. That’s what keeps me challenged,
constantly having to run around and worry about
technology. What is this week’s crisis?
What’s your day-to-day job? What’s the essence
of your responsibilities and your quintessential
title? Administrator. To be an admin you have to
at least stick your finger in everybody’s job without being consumed with doing people’s jobs for
them. I’m happy to do two hours of reference a
week. It keeps my reference skills from becoming
dull. I get to experience reference and see how
various systems in reference are working or not
working. I won’t know that if I’m not doing reference. The same with technical services.
It’s something that I sort of had to learn as I went
in. And I constantly have to argue with technical
services librarians who come from the perspective
that you don’t get what they are trying to do. I
have to remind them that they are not just doing
this for themselves but that they are doing this for
everybody and I have some insight on what might
be necessary for everybody. But at least they
should hear my point of view and explain it to me.
We can get to a happy medium on why they want
to proceed in a certain way.
You were a Board Member in the late 1970s and
again in the 80s. How have LLAGNY and the
Board changed throughout these eras? How has
its focus shifted? When I was first on the Board, it
seemed to be more sociable than educational to
me. Most of the Board’s efforts seemed to be in
planning parties and facilitating networking. People’s roles seemed to be better defined: Library
directors, aspiring administrators and clerks. And
there were salespeople, but they were never represented on Board; only intermingled in sales.
There are now expanded roles of vendors and
salespersons. We are all in the association together. Now there are lots more business relationships
16
Winter 2012
Not everything is a crisis. Sometimes it’s “Oh boy!
Google is offering ‘blah’!” So what? What use is it
in this particular thing? There are classes of librarians who get excited about every single thing, but
if it doesn’t really pertain to here, it’s a waste of
your time, constantly having to figure out what
people are so excited about. And every once in a
while I’ll find “Yeah, that’s exciting!” But most of
the time it doesn’t pertain to what this class of
users at this particular institution need. It may be
great for certain purposes but it doesn’t fit here.
facilitate access to real legal materials, rather than
retrieve endless streams of 10Ks. Also, it seemed
that firm librarians would never be seen as anything but a hired hands, glorified clerks. In an academic institution, you inherently are a part in
what the institution is doing: education, support
of curricular activities. Really partnering with the
whole process rather than just handling the administrative side of things. So, I aspired to this.
17
Winter 2012
going on rather than social packrats of librarians
Why did you run for Vice-President/Presidentgathering. There is less the us/them division.
elect last year? I like people in the association and
We are more concerned about how we look to
I’d like to think I have something to contribute.
legal profession. What librarians do? How do we
And I guess I feel as though this is as good a time
let everyone know how important we are? It’s
as any to take a shot at it. I’m sort of at a place in
become much more of a worry. We are worried
my career where I’m sitting on a comfortable platthat if we don’t do something the
eau and have time to devote to
legal profession will find someone
this. And people kept asking me.
Name: William Ruby Mills.
else to do what we are doing and
Not every year, but this is like the
(It’s a family name)
not give a care about us. That was
6 or 7 time I’ve been asked to
never a worry when I first got inrun. I’m not conceited. It’s just
Education:
volved in the association. And it’s
that people kept asking me.
SUNY
Stony
Brook,
B.S.
played itself out in arguments about
1971
What particular skill set do you
who should be members. Should
Columbia, M.S.L.S.
bring to LLAGNY as the President
vendors representatives be mem1978
-elect? I’ve got a historical perbers? Full members? Associate
Fordham, J.D. 1982.
spective on what the association
members? Should they vote? Chair
is all about. I hope I’m reasonably
Current position: Professor
committees? All of these questions
of Legal Research & Assocismart, relatively easygoing and I
bubble around and never get fully
ate Librarian for Inforget along with people. And, looksolved. I don’t remember that being
mation Services, Mendik
ing at the association, I like to
such a care when I first got started.
Library, New York Law
think that I can come up with one
It was where are going to have the
School. Joined the library
Staff in 1989.
or two opinions about how things
June Dinner, what hors d’oeuvres
might run better and how the
are we going to order, let’s make
Previous Experience:
association might improve itself.
sure the flyers get sent out. It was
You’ve only got a year to do it
really a sociable little group.
1983-1989 Head of
really. So really all you can do is
Public Services CUNY
I remember that my third boss, Paul
take one or two of your ideas, the
Law School
1982-1983 Reference
Gloeckner, who was very sociable
ones that are most achievable
Librarian
Seton
Hall
and very good at mentoring. He didand run with those ideas and
Law School
n’t take me to meetings, but he inkeep everything else going, the
1971-1979 Legal clerk
troduced me to people. One of his
way a president has to keep eveto Library: Manager
friends, Sophie Fabian, was on the
rything else going. I can get along
Willkie Farr & Gallagher
LLAGNY Board and she liked me so
with people and can persuade
she suggested that I run for the
people that some of my ideas are
Board. And, that’s how I got on the
reasonable ideas and that they
Board for the first time. I was Bill
should come along with them.
Mills. I was 28 years old in 1978; still
What perspective do you bring as an academic
just a young pup. People liked me. Many thought I
librarian who has also worked in a law firm?
would come up in the association. I said, “What
Good perspective I hope. I’ve done both of them.
else have I got to do?” I was young. I had time to
It’s been so long since I was a law firm librarian
do stuff. When you are young you can do all sorts
that I don’t necessarily think I can represent that I
of crap.
am very skilled, that what I know now of being a
th
th
Firms are groups of lawyers who
have the usual back and forth and
intrigue. And everyone wants their
own thing. There are certain egos
that you have to cater to. And, there
are good people and bad people and
sons of bitches, and things like that.
But they all have a say. At least the
partners do because they are partners. And all of the associates walk
on eggshells trying to make it or just
discover that they are not partner
material and don’t give a hoot after
a while. So there’s all that going on.
There’s less of that in academia, but
there’s still a certain amount of that
in academia. But these are the people who we serve. With any luck it
has sunk into my brain about how to
provide service that these various
classes of people will value, in a way
that really is effective for them.
not being paid. Really everything they are doing
for you as their leader, they are doing as a favor.
You can’t fire people. It’s ridiculous to think about
but you can’t fire people if they sign up to do
something in LLAGNY and they don’t do it. So, you
constantly have to think about “How can I persuade this person that what they
are doing is not only valuable to
Professional organizations:
the association but also somehow
Bill has been active in
valuable to them?” ProfessionalLLAGNY since the midly. Personally. Somewhere you
1970’s and AALL soon after
have to find a way of communithat.
cating the value of what their doing a good job for LLAGNY would
Coffee: “I’m a Gemini so
mean.
this emphasizes the dual
nature of my approach to
And that’s easier for some people
life and my approach to
than others. So that’s going to be
coffee. When I’m at home I
a big challenge because I have to
put coffee in a glass with a
persuade more people to volunlittle bit of sugar and some
teer and become active and it
whole milk and lots of ice
just sounds so hackneyed. “Oh
and I drink it iced. But
yes, oh yes! Volunteer and bewhen I’m on the job I drink
come active in LLAGNY.” How
it black. No sugar. I guess I
many times have you heard that?
feel when I’m at home on a
As the song in “Gypsy” goes, “I’ve
weekend I’m in a more regotta get a gimmick.” “Gimmick”
laxed atmosphere I can sit
is too harsh a word. You have
and drink coffee without it
come up with a fresh approach.
necessarily being the kind
You have to get people’s attenof a drug that you need to
tion in a positive way so that they
get you going in the mornwill not only pay attention to you
ing. Black coffee here just
but will say, “Oh I haven’t heard it
picks you right up.”
that way before.” So, that’s my
leadership style.
The first thing you can do to motivate people who
are there in LLAGNY is to understand that they are
What is your agenda for the upcoming year? Make things run
more efficiently. If I had one big criticism about
the way the Board has run is that too much time is
wasted on trivial stuff. Either we should be confronting big things or we should not be spending
so much time meeting as a Board. We’ve got oth-
18
Winter 2012
What is your leadership style? I
don’t know because I haven’t been a
leader yet. I’m waiting to be a leader. Sort of laidback. When you are
president or trying to guide an association like LLAGNY, you have to
keep in mind that no one who works
for LLAGNY is being paid a dime to work for
LLAGNY.
firm librarian pertains too much to what the firm
librarians’ real concerns are now. But having
worked both sides I think I’ve learned as much
about firm librarianship from conversations with
firm librarians as I might bring to it from having
been a firm librarian myself.
19
er things to do. We’ve got continuing things to
al stuff. They are the responsible people and they
move on with. We’ve got to constantly work at
keep the association going in their particular
getting a good educational plan. We’ve got to prospheres of expertise as much as I do. So, let them
vide nice events for people. We’ve got to go out
do their jobs and sit back and be happy.
and meet the next generation of librarians and
What is your first order of business as President?
make sure that they are anxious to come in and
I don’t know. The very first order
be law librarians. Help them underis to greet everybody at the June
stand what the profession is and
Where he learned the art
Dinner. That’s the first thing the
what role they can play. All of that is
of drinking black coffee: “I
president does. I’m thinking
being served by existing committees
sort of learned to when I
about how to greet the group.
and all I can hope to do is keep
was I between my junior
those activities running at a high
and senior year of college; I
One horrible weakness I have,
level. And I hope that we can find, as
spent my summer in Finand I don’t know how anybody
a Board, more interesting things to
land. I stayed with a Finnish
who has this particular horrible
talk about than whether we should
family and while I was
weakness can be president, I’m
meet at a downtown club or a midthere I learned how Scandihorrible with names. And, not
town club and what kind of hors
navians approached coffee
that great with faces. And, so I’m
d’oeuvres we should have.
which was that only little
really, really going to have to
I remember the first time I was on
girls drink coffee with milk
work very hard meet new people.
the Board. At the second or third
and sugar. And the Fins and
Well, it’s easy for me to meet
meeting they distributed a list of
Scandinavians in general
new people. The hard part is for
possible hors d’oeuvres that could
are just obsessed with cofme to remember that I’ve met
be served at the June Dinner. And I
fee and a man never put
the new people and remember
was sitting there dying. [Hors d’oeuanything in his coffee; he
who they are the next time I see
vres] is my metaphor for the trivial
always drank it black. So I
them. Some people find that very
stuff that the Board still gets inwas 21 years old and I said,
easy and most people find it easivolved in.
“I’m not going to put that
er than I do. And there must be
crap in my coffee. I’m going
some trick to it. And so I’m just
I’d like to transfer more responsibilto drink it black no matter
going to have to spend the next
ity, rather encourage committee
how terrible tastes.” And I
year and a half trying to get betchairs and committee members to
got used to drinking black
ter at it.
understand that they have the powcoffee. It was part of your
Winter 2012
er to make the decision and we are
savu, which is [similar to]
At the June meeting I meet everyrelying on them to make the decimachismo.”
body, I welcome everybody, I gotsions on the various aspects of the
ta get a “gimmick”, say someassociation that they are involved in.
thing to get their attention and
And the Board isn’t going to sit
express long true ideas in a new
there and try to micromanage eveway that gets people’s attention and gets them
rything they do. I’d really like to persuade the
thinking about what they have to be doing to suppeople who I have as my committee chairs to unport LLAGNY and that’s the first thing the presidertake more and what I can promise them if they
dent does at the June Dinner.
do is that they won’t have the Board coming back
saying, “Oh no! We don’t like that,” if I can avoid
In a year’s time, what do you hope to have acit. That’s cut of the same cloth as eliminating trivi-
Here at NYLS, something that I’ve appreciated, is
something called a “consent agenda”. A consent
agenda is stuff that the, in the case of NYLS it’s the
faculty and in the case of LLAGNY it would be the
Board, medium level stuff that the Board feels
that it should at least know about but doesn’t
have to rise, in most instances, to a debate or a
discussion.
So these things are presented to the Board, during
the course of, between one Board meeting and
another and they are put on the consent agenda
saying, “Here read this. It’s on the consent agenda.” Unless you object to it, we will pass the consent agenda first thing at the next meeting and it
will be. And that’s my idea of a nice efficient way
to proceed. To say, “Yes the Board considered this
and yes the Board approves of it.”
Are there places within LLAGNY where you
would like to see greater member involvement?
Everything. We’ve just come through a few years
when not only that, but people losing their jobs or
people who haven’t lost their jobs but working
twice as hard because other people have lost their
jobs and they are doing the work of those people
as well. And, they are stressed. And they’re looking over their shoulder and worried about the
budget of their firm. Will they merge? Fold?
There’s been a lot of drop-off in member ability to
devote lots of time and attention to the things
that LLAGNY needs. With any luck we are starting
to come out of that a little bit. People shouldn’t
be so worried, I hope, in the next year. That’s
probably one of the things I’ll say at the June dinner. Happy days may not be here again, but happier days than 2009. And so maybe firms are hiring
more librarians and people who have lost their
jobs are finding jobs. And if you are just in a situation where you’ve just found a job you aren’t going to be able to devote lavish amounts of time to
LLAGNY. You’ll want to prove yourself in your next
job but it’s a job.
We need more member involvement and I’m hoping that I get lucky and the economy improves. An
improving economy gives me the opportunity to
say that LLAGNY got more librarians involved in
what we are doing. But, I can’t think of a single
individual place where we need people in terms of
Committee A versus Committee B. Just broadbased more involvement and I hope it can be
done.
What do you see in the future for law librarianship in New York and nationwide? OR even
20
Winter 2012
But one thing that we are confronting is that the
bylaws were amended in 2006 to accommodate
electronic balloting. We are tethered to AALL for
so many things including elections. AALL will not
do more than one election [a year] as a chapter.
We’ve only got one shot. So, for example, if
there’s a tie in the vote, the bylaws say you’re
supposed to have another ballot. But, if AALL will
only have one ballot for us, we don’t have any
other way to do a ballot. What do you do? So
we’ve got to work on that in the bylaws. There are
a couple of other things such as membership,
what should membership be, membership categories. There are lots that should be done to the bylaws. But if we can get that done, make things
more efficient, to work out these kinks I’ll be a
happy clam.
complished as President of LLAGNY? There is already meeting a bylaws committee. All of the people who Janice Henderson put on the committee
are past LLAGNY Presidents and current Board
members. Part of the way we can make the Board
run more efficiently and relieving us of trivial
things is to make sure that the bylaws don’t require us to do trivial things. So, I’m going to try to
influence the bylaws committee, if there are proposed amendments to the bylaws, I want to make
sure that that happens.
21
worldwide? We gotta get better at technology.
We have to accept the fact that technology changes everything constantly and we have to be flexible enough to maintain our place in it, in the center of it which is where we have to be. Just staying
on top of technological stuff. Like Mendik Mobile
here [at NYLS].
Trying to embrace the good parts of technology
fast enough, intelligently enough to make the
people who run things say, “Hey we wouldn’t
have had that if we didn’t have a librarian arguing
for it. And now it’s a major benefit and we couldn’t live without it.” And we, librarian A, B and C,
did that.
When I went to library school we had one course
with this crazy professor who was some kind of
aerospace librarian. He was interested in teaching
us machine language, underlying computer language. I never understood why he thought it important that librarians know that, but maybe we
did need it. We have got to grapple with technology. We have to get beneath the surface enough to
know whether it’s good, whether it’s bad and
whether it will help the people who are your clientele.
Winter 2012
What advice do you have for those who are sitting on the fence about joining or getting involved in LLAGNY? If you’re only going to be a
librarian and not be involved in LLAGNY, you’re
going to be bored. You’re just going to be a pencil
pusher. Socializing with your fellow librarians is
the only way you are ever going to understand
what the profession is about. You could join SLA
or something like that but, it’s the only way you’re
going to understand. It’s the key, the entryway to
understanding the bigger picture.
Going in to work 9-5 and doing what little things
are assigned to you and going home at night, if
you are satisfied with that kind of job, and don’t
want anything more than that, then there’s not
need to join LLAGNY and it’s probably just as well.
Your employer probably doesn’t want you to be
that way. Your employer wants you to grow and
understand more and, thus, do your job better.
And just from the point of view of personal
growth, if you are on the fence about joining
LLAGNY, then you are probably on the same fence
about whether you want to be a librarian or an
information professional at all. And that’s a personal decision. But if you want to be a librarian or
at least have the opportunity to be a librarian in
the real sense or an information profession in the
real sense, you’ve got to join. And you’ve got to
be active.
What advice do you have for younger librarians?
That’s a tough one because you can’t answer, except in the hackneyed old way: “Get involved!
Come to meetings!” It’s the usual stuff. Just find a
different way to say it. The usual thing that they
tell you in career services offices. Be interested.
Don’t go home at night and just turn on the television. Spend time reading professional literature.
Come to a LLAGNY education program even if
you’re not sure that it has anything to do with
you. Five years from now you might say, “Oh, I’m
called to do something that I learned about at that
professional meeting that I finally decided to go
and attend instead of watching “30 Rock” or
something!”
- Alison Sherwin
I went back to school for an MLIS six years after
graduating from law school and embarking on first
career as a corporate lawyer. Having enjoyed law
school, I wasn’t worried about the challenge of returning to school as a “grown-up” -- at least until I
started. At times, I found the year I spent earning
my degree to be a greater challenge than I expected; at other times, I found myself surprisingly
well served by my prior education and work experience. This column will briefly discuss what it was
like returning to library school after a long absence
from the classroom.
Homework: Going back to school full-time, I knew I
was going to be busy, but I quickly discovered that
library school was going to be a lot of work. While
law school involved more reading, there were hardly any assignments to hand in, and even fewer due
before the end of the semester. In library school,
however, there were myriad homework assignments to hand in each week. While the work may
not have been as challenging as law school, it took
as much (or more) time. After six years as a lawyer,
I had trouble completing these assignments without double and triple checking the work, as though
I had lost the ability to complete an assignment
without obsessing over it.
Technology: I may have taken notes on a laptop in
law school, but classes were held in person and
papers were handed in on actual paper. In library
school, I quickly discovered that nearly everything - course assignments, class discussions, and especially turning in projects -- could be done online.
I never felt as comfortable with the online classes
as I did with in-person classes. Without a set class
session each week, my online classes lacked the
natural rhythm of an in-person class. I also found
that I didn’t get as much out of the online
“commenting” process as I did from an actual class
discussion. Online discussions became unwieldly
very quickly, and with twenty students in a class,
you could spend a lot of time replying to others and
worrying about whether there are “replies” to your
comments that you need to address. I learned to
set a limit for myself; I was going to make X number
of comments and X replies. Having hit that number, unless the professor directly asked me a question, I was not going to worry about the extended
conversations.
The amount of homework and the online environment were my biggest challenges at library school.
However, in many ways, I felt much more confident
about knowing what I needed to do outside of class
to round out my education. At my law firm, I had
22
Winter 2012
To finish my homework and still get some sleep, I
made a few adjustments to my approach. Doing a
law library concentration, I had originally envisioned that all of my papers and projects would
relate to law librarianship. Nevermind -- I was going to work with what I knew. As an English history
buff, I created a pathfinder on the many wives of
Henry VIII; while reading a biography of author
Roald Dahl, I made a concept map on his life; and
while trying a new recipe for homemade naan, I
created a controlled vocabulary for Indian
food. And when my grandmother complained
about the “smuttiness” of a recent book club selection, I wrote a research paper on readers’ advisory
for older adults. Ultimately, I discovered that it
didn’t matter -- I needed to learn the underlying
concepts of librarianship, and the topics selected
weren’t as important.
Returning to Library School
23
interviewed many job candidates and could easily
distinguish between a student who had no idea
why he or she was in school or what he or she
wanted to do with the degree and a student who
had the practical experience to know what his or
her goals were. I wanted to be the latter.
Asking for Help: I’m not certain I ever went to a
professor’s office hours in law school. This time, I
wasn’t afraid or intimidated to ask for help and create relationships. I went to office hours and asked
for clarifications on projects. I met with my
(incredibly patient) web design professor when my
website was misbehaving. And I asked for help
finding internships and volunteer opportunities. With some experience in the real world, I
knew what I wanted to get out of school -- a degree
and a job -- and that I could ask for help and advice
in doing so.
Winter 2012
Practical Experience: To get a job these days, you
need more than a degree -- you need experience. Knowing that, I decided that I wasn’t going
to simply bury my head in the books. I was going
to volunteer anywhere someone would take me, so
I could figure out exactly what I wanted to do with
this degree and gain the experience I lacked. After
a few phone calls to the New York Public Library, I
found myself updating patron records, conducting
readers’ advisory, requesting inter-library loans,
and classifying new bibliographic records at the
Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. Each time I went I was completely astounded that they were letting me do this, with no experience and -- when I started -- no library school
credits. What I did have was an incredibly generous and patient head librarian, who took the time
to answer my questions and ask me what experiences I wanted while volunteering.
With the confidence gained from Heiskell, I also
volunteered (and later interned) at the New York
Law Institute. There, I gained experience directly
related to what I hoped to be doing after graduating: reference, collection development, copyright
compliance, and cataloging at a law library. Working at NYLI made me realize that I was
going to enjoy working as a law librarian. It also
provided me with practical experience in law librarianship to add to my resume and talk about at interviews.
Networking: Everything I read about searching for a
job in the current economy emphasized the importance of networking. This was something I had
never done as a practicing attorney and it’s not
something that came naturally to me. Forcing myself to get over my nervousness, over the course of
the school year I attended LLAGNY meetings, free
training sessions, and other programs. Early on, a
librarian told me how small the law librarian community is -- and happily, I found that to be true. At
each event, there were more people I recognized,
either from classes or NYLI or other events. By the
time I attended AALL in Philadelpia, I was amazed
at the number of people I knew and the connections that I had made. When it came time to interview for my current job, I had already met several
of the people with whom I was interviewing.
Before library school, I didn’t think returning to the
classroom after six years of working would have
been such a dramatic change. I never got over my
concern that the homework assignments were taking me much longer than they should, but by the
end I had figured out how to leverage my existing
knowledge and interests to complete my assignments, mastered some new technology, and had
my degree -- and the knowledge that I was going to
like my new profession.
- Jenelle Blevins
As a former Australian who now calls New York
home, I still find myself keeping up with library
news and happenings in Australia. So with that, I
thought it might be interesting for you to read
about what your fellow Law Librarians are up to
over the other side of the world.
The Australian Law Librarians Association (ALLA) is
the Australian equivalent to AALL/LLAGNY. ALLA is
a national association with state divisions. These
divisions run a variety of training events and networking opportunities for members, with an E-list
that generates some lively discussion. The Association also produces the Australian Law Librarian
Journal. Each year, ALLA run a conference that is
well attended and always offers an interesting
perspective on relevant issues in our industry. If
you would like to do some travel later this year,
the 2012 ALLA Conference will be held in Brisbane. Overseas librarians are welcome to join ALLA and also subscribe to the E-list.
If you are interested in the tech side of things, I
encourage you to check out VALA (what does this
stand for?) - Libraries, Technology and the Future.
As a state based association, the biennial VALA
Conference has become one that has a truly national focus for developments in library technologies across all sectors and is a great way to find
out more about the practical applications of technology in libraries. Members of VALA come from
all streams and this makes for a fantastic opportunity to have a sneak peek at what other libraries
are doing and the technological challenges they
face.
24
The library industry is a relatively small one in
Australia; there are only approximately 15,000
librarians and other information professionals in
the workforce. As a result, a natural crossover occurs across the different library sectors and it is
normal for professional activities to take place
whilst including more than just one sector.
While volunteering across many professional association groups, I have been blessed to have
worked with a range of librarians, from public libraries, school libraries, college libraries and other
special libraries. This has been advantageous,
mainly due to gaining a real understanding of the
issues faced by our colleagues every day – no mat-
Winter 2012
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is the main? highest? body overseeing
all library and related professionals. With state
chapters and special interest groups catering to
the many different streams of librarianship, members are able to participate in the Association,
whatever their professional interest or workplace. No matter where you are in the world, if
you are a new librarian, check out the fantastic
New Librarians Symposium websites. The first
symposium was held in 2002 as an initiative by the
ALIA New Graduates Group. Since then, it has
grown to be a much anticipated event and presents amazing opportunities for any new library
professionals. The symposium has a special focus
on first time presenters and those new to the profession. For myself, even after being in our industry for a lot longer than a traditional new graduate, I still follow the happenings of the symposium
as it is still relevant in so many ways, especially
when focusing on career development.
Law Librarianship in Australia
25
ter what field they work in. It also gave me the
opportunity to create professional relationships
outside my usual legal comfort zone. Through
working with those in other disciplines, it became
quickly evident that we all share more similarities
than differences.
Links to visit –
A snapshot of librarianship in Australia - http://
joboutlook.gov.au/Documents/2246.pdf
ALLA http://www.alla.asn.au/
ALIA - http://www.alia.org.au/
VALA - http://www.vala.org.au/
The small but thriving profession is very active in
social media – through blogs and other outlets,
you can find active participation from our Australian colleagues. I have found that Twitter use
amongst librarians in Australia is growing and is
fast becoming part of their everyday professional
networking. It now seems that many are using
Twitter as a major part of their Personal Learning
Network (PLN). Professional development opportunities via social media have helped shrink the
physical limitations of time and distance, especially in such a vast country as Australia is. The Libraries Interact blog was established to provide for a
collaborative space to discuss issues within the
Australian library industry, and it is a good place
to start if you would like to read about some of
the different happenings in Australia. You could
also use this as a starting point to branch off to
find your own Australian PLN!
Libraries Interact Blog- http://
librariesinteract.info/
Australian Law Resources - http://
www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/law/auslaw.htm
Conferences to follow ALLA 2012 Conference - http://alla2012.com.au/
ALIA Biennial Conference - http://
conferences.alia.org.au/alia2012
ALIA 6th New Librarians Symposium & ALIA Information Online 2013 – To be held in February 2013
Winter 2012
-Gayle Lynn-Nelson, LexisNexis
This month we will focus on one research and reference site, two technology sites and one fun site.
TECHNOLOGY
_______________________________________
RESEARCH AND REFERENCE
LegalTechTrainer2
http://legaltechtrainer.com
Here we find technology tips and tricks focused on
legal topics/issues from Anita Evans, technical
trainer at Baker & McKenzie. You will see a picture
of Anita as well as the search box to type in your
question. She is actually quite funny and has a good
sense of humor.
Presentation Zen
http://www.presentationzen.com
This is the go-to resource for people who want to
create better looking and more informative presentations. There are lots of tips and step-by-step instructions, as well as great discussion of various
schools of presentation styles.Here is what Garr
Reynolds – the owner of this site has to say about
himself:
I'm a former "salaryman" (Osaka), former Apple
employee (Cupertino), jazz musician, branding enthusiast, communications specialist, and design
evangelist currently working in Japan as a fulltime
marketing professor for a local private university.
I'm also director of a Japanese design group and
love living here in Japan.
26
Techmeme
http://www.techmeme.com
Instead of wasting time visiting several tech sites to
learn what the latest news is, just go here. It aggregates.
When I was researching to buy and iPad I used this
site. I also like the fact it lets you know how long
Winter 2012
He is quite unique, as is his website.
As she gained experience in training legal professionals, she identified a gap between attorneys’ use
of technology and their understanding of these
tools to practice law. She says she has seen many
great legal minds not competent or capable
of using the technology tools given to them. Frequently, attorneys try to work around the functionality. This distorts the natural flow of the software
itself. Additionally, technology training in law
firms is not mandatory because it is not billable.
The preference is learning just in time, usually during a time crunch. This insight gave rise to the idea
that ALL legal professionals, especially attorneys,
need instruction on the use of technology in their
profession and thus was born Legal tech trainer.
60 Sites—Abridged: 4 Sites This
Newsletter
ago something is posted. I think that is very cool. I
subscribed so that this shows up when I open
Google.
At this moment, the must-read stories in technology are scattered across hundreds of news sites and
blogs. That's far too much for any reader to follow.
Fortunately, Techmeme arranges all of these links
into a single, easy-to-scan page. Story selection is
accomplished via computer algorithm extended
with direct human editorial input. Their goal is for
Techmeme to become your tech news site of record.
FUN
Courtroom/Deposition war stories
http://www.texasbar.com/saywhat/weblog
Judge Jerry Buchmeyer’s wonderful collection of
courtroom and deposition war stories lives on,
even though the good judge passed away in 2009.
This is worth bookmarking and exploring. While it
comes under my fun category it actually has some
really good information.
Why Shepard’s in Print Still Matters
- Deborah L. Heller
27
When I began law school in the summer of 2005, it
marked a shift in teaching legal research. Research
was taught using print and online materials. While
I received a cursory introduction to print materials,
nearly all of my instruction was regarding the use
of online materials such as Lexis and
Westlaw. During law school, I never received instruction on how to use Shepard’s in print. This
was because the print version essentially became
outdated as soon as it was published, making the
online version far more efficacious to use. Based
on the course of my legal research education, I automatically discounted the idea of using Shepard’s
in print and could not even understand why libraries continued to receive updates.
Winter 2012
I did not even look at a copy of Shepard’s in print
until I received an assignment at work requiring me
to review the different titles to determine which
materials could and could not be found on Lexis.com. When I opened the book, I missed the colorful red stop sign and yellow caution signal that
would instantly let me know if a case is still good
law. My eyes only saw row after row of citations,
which did not help to endear me to Shepard’s in
print. I began looking at the Shepard’s United
States Citations. Everything in those volumes could
be found online, which did not surprise me since I
had Shepardized a Supreme Court case many times
before. This only reaffirmed my initial idea that
Shepard’s in print did not seem necessary.
My perceptions began to change as I worked my
way through more Shepard’s titles. One of the
most glaring differences between the print and
online versions relates to the coverage of the Statutes at Large. The Shepard’s Federal Statute Citations in print includes a section with those statutes
not codified into the United States Code. The
online version of Shepard’s currently lacks the capacity to Shepardize statutes that have not been
codified. Although the distinction between the
Code and the Statutes at Large may be difficult to
explain to first year law students, legal scholars and
law librarians know that the Statutes at Large form
an important part of the law in the United
The inexplicable oversight of including the Statutes at Large on Lexis.com forms the most common
argument for maintaining parts of the Shepard’s
collection in print. However, it is not the only difference between the two formats. Some of the
other differences may seem insignificant, but insignificances become highly important when a particular point of law requires urgent research.
Shepard’s in print allows users to Shepardize sections of the United States Code from previous
years. For instance, the 1928 Code provisions are
separated from the 1958 Code provisions. The
online version of Shepard’s does not allow users to
Shepardize by edition of the Code. Therefore,
Shepard’s in print may prove more useful for retrospective research.
The ability to Shepardize various Court Rules differs between the print and online versions. The
Shepard’s Federal Rules Citations volumes detail
the rules in the individual District and Circuit Courts
as well as a variety of more specific
courts. Interestingly, the coverage in the online
version of Shepard’s is not uniform among the different courts. The print volumes often contain the
current rules of a District or Circuit Court as well as
previous versions. Some of these previous versions
of rules may be available online and some may not;
availability depends entirely on the individual
courts. The same can be said for the availability of
criminal rules and civil rules. For instance, it is possible to Shepardize online the District of Connecticut Civil Rules 1985 but not the District of Connecticut Criminal Rules 1985.
The different nuances between Shepard’s in print
and online are fascinating. This does not necessarily mean that every set of Shepard’s in print should
remain in today’s law libraries. It does mean that
every library should understand which materials
are online and which remain only in print. The
needs of the library’s patrons should be considered
along with this information to make an informed
choice about the future of the Shepard’s collection. Shepard’s in print might still matter and
should not be discounted in collection development without careful consideration.
28
Winter 2012
Little features of Shepard’s in print also provide
more value. For instance, the Shepard’s Labor Arbitration Citations volumes contain a case name
table. The Shepard’s Federal Occupational Safety
and Health Citations volumes also provide some
quick reference tools. For example, in these volumes cases are listed by docket number and fiche
number. This provides another method for finding
case information if the party names are unknown.
States. The inability to Shepardize all laws online,
whether codified or not, makes Shepard’s in print
still relevant.
29
New York State Bar Association Includes Court
Libraries in its Report on the Impact of Funding
Cuts in the Courts - Jacqueline Cantwell and Deborah Melnick, LLAGNY
Government Relations Committee
In fiscal year 2011-2012, the New York State Judiciary budget was provided $170 million less than requested to operate the state’s court system. As the
last quarter of this fiscal year draws to a close, the
New York State Bar Association published a report
( http://www.nylj.com/nylawyer/adgifs/
decisions/011912nysba.pdf ) on its studies of the
impact of this $170 million reduction. The report
summarizes assessments in each of the thirteen
districts as to the effects felt throughout various
court operations. The New York Law Journal article,“Report Finds Budget Cuts Result in Substantial
Harm to Courts,” (1/19/12) (http://
www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY.jsp?
id=1202538708860&Report_Finds_Budget_Cuts_R
esult_in_Substantial_Harm_to_Courts&slreturn=1)
summed up the New York State Bar Association’s
findings.
Of particular interest to LLAGNY members may be
the Report’s statements pertaining to the public
libraries of the Unified Court System and the state
of New York citizens' access to justice. The Executive Summary finds:
[A] disadvantage for pro se litigants is that
library services have been limited in terms
of number of staff, open hours, and research materials.
Winter 2012
First, there are fewer librarians to help pro
se litigants (as well as lawyers) with their
research. Many of those who remain have
insufficient time to complete their workloads, and morale is low amid concern that
the libraries will close down completely.
Second, the libraries in the courthouses are
open for fewer hours each day due to limited courthouse access.
Third, fewer research materials are available. For example, there is no budget for
supplementing some collections of written
legal reference materials, and access to
some online reference materials has been
restricted.
These statements are further explained in the Report’s Appendices that consist of the District summaries.
Several of the comments from the districts about
other court departments and operations can also
be attributed to similar impact upon libraries and
librarians. For instance
• increased caseloads
• reduced access to courthouses
• loss of experienced employees
• extra hours of attorney time on cases
leading to increased fees to clients
• potential employee error due to stress
and increased workload or unfamiliarity
with reassigned positions
• reduction of knowledgeable back-office
and courtroom staff with resultant strain in
accomplishing collaborative work
• inability to maintain innovated technological systems due to poor training and
lack of time
• reduction in the availability of supplies
such as paper and toners for printers or
photocopiers
The Districts also present “Resulting Innovations
and Proposed Solutions,” that have overcome or
may alleviate funding constraints. Repeatedly, the
increased transition to online legal research is mentioned as the solution or actual action taken to
combat cuts to library staff, services and resources.
Certainly this has been a trend within the last dec-
Shifting funds from court library functions may be a
short term solution - the expectation that online
legal research will provide a satisfactory long term
substitute for staff, services and all resources is
troubling. Districts do vary in their assessments in
regard to online legal research as more than a temporary way of coping. For example:
• “Attorneys also have noted that layoffs of
law librarians mean that trial lawyers and
pro se litigants who would rely on them
have nowhere to turn”
• “Court representatives reported that
there is a greater reliance on online research to make up for the loss of law librarians”
• “There is no longer a budget for written
legal reference materials. Although reference materials are available online, budget
constraints restrict access to the types of
materials that are available…This amounts
to a large loss of legal research materials
that are available to both attorneys and the
public[.] ...While online legal research has
many advantages, there are many people
who prefer using books. In addition, not all
publications are available online in their
entireties. Self-represented litigants now
have even few opportunities to receive assistance or do research at supreme court
law libraries”
• “On-line legal research provides sufficient resources so that funding for actual
books no longer should be necessary.”
The LLAGNY GRC invites comments and further discussion among members on this subject of the NYS
Bar Association’s Report, public court law libraries,
and/or the state of online primary legal information within New York State. Send to Jacqueline
Cantwell [email protected]; or
[email protected].
30
Winter 2012
If New York State’s fiscal situation as noted in the
referenced New York State Bar Association Report
continues, libraries will not see the funding levels
of the past, staffing will not improve, and the escalation in the costs of print legal materials will continue to push the transition to online legal research
materials (especially information produced by the
government itself), court libraries and the researchers who use them face even greater issues for the
future.
The court law libraries within New York State serve
its citizens. As the New York State Bar Association’s
Report indicates, decreased funding has directly
affected collections, staffing and available services. The total conversion to online legal resources may be a partial solution to saving money;
but must be pursued realistically (see our future
discussion on the Uniform Electronic Legal Material
Act). Ensuring “access to justice” for people within
the state requires continuing development of the
public court law libraries.
ade and many of us would find this more palatable
than simply closing libraries.
31
Moving Forward
- Rachael H. Moller
Last year Proskauer relocated its New York office to
Eleven Times Square. Based on the layout of the
new building, the library was asked to consolidate
its collection into a smaller space. This sparked all
sorts of questions amongst the librarians about
how best to maintain the physical collection and
continue to deliver a high level of service. The
move was a challenge and an opportunity to remake the library into a more valued firm asset.
Winter 2012
It was clear that we needed to pare down the print
collection. We eliminated almost all of our statutes, reporters, digests, legal encyclopedias, periodicals and other large sets. These materials were
readily available online and in all honesty, mostly
used online. These were the easier choices. The
main collection was much more difficult to
weed. It consisted mostly of treatises and thousands of separate titles. Weeding fell to me, and
my colleagues gave me the nickname of “chief
chopper” for a brief period of time. But how could
I decide what the firm needed? Proskauer is a
large firm with many practice groups. I set up a
system that allowed for a review process. I would
pull all books that had not been signed out in five
years onto a book cart. I would then attach a note
to the cart with all of the librarians’ initials. When
a librarian reviewed the book cart if there was any
book that the librarian thought should not be
weeded then it was shelved; when they were done
reviewing the cart they then crossed off their initials. When all had crossed off their initials then
the cart headed over to technical services to be
removed from the catalog and thrown away. The
availability and usability of sources online continued to aid our weeding of the collection. We
looked title by title at the resources offered in LexisNexis, Westlaw, CCH IntelliConnect, RIA Checkpoint, Bloomberg BNA other databases that we
already subscribed to and free authoritative
sources online (mostly government websites), to
see if we could discard materials duplicated in
print. We added licenses to two HeinOnline databases to cover some large sets for which we no
longer had space. Nonetheless, we had to discard
many unused out of print titles to save space for
materials that were beeing used. Thus,
we transitioned the function of the library away
from a repository and an archive of firm practice. We had to recognize that this is what the firm
was asking us to do: support current practices now.
This move toward electronic resources is inkeeping with Proskauer’s ongoing firm vision. As a
tool to increase productivity and communication,
Proskauer provided iPad2s to all attorneys1. Our
new office is in a brand new building with many
high tech and environmental features2 and we have
our name over Times Square. Proskauer went
through a re-branding process in which we shortened our name to the more iconic Proskauer (from
Proskauer Rose), updated the look of our website
and Intranet pages, and changed the look and feel
of all of our written and visual communications3. These changes are Proskauer’s way of remaking itself into an environmentally friendly and
forward-looking law firm. They also reflect changes
in the legal marketplace and the values of our particular client base.
The library has played a role in all of these changes. Not only did we adjust the size of the physical
collection to fit into a smaller space with the move,
but our whole online presence has changed in the
re-branding process with the new Intranet pages. Our new look is more streamlined and allows
pictures and icons. The library’s homepage, called
Research Tools, has library contact information,
links to major databases, the Copyright Clearance
Center link (to check for rights) and a link to our
________________________________________
References:
1
Proskauer Provides iPads to Lawyers Firmwide, Proskauer (Apr. 20, 2011), http://www.proskauer.com/
news/press-releases/april-20-2011/proskauer-providesipads-to-lawyers-firmwide/.
2
Craig Kellogg, Uncommon Law, Interior Design (Oct. 1,
2011, 2:00 AM), http://www.interiordesign.net/
article/544248-Uncommon_Law.php.
3
Proskauer Named Tops in Law Firm Marketingand
Communications by Marketing the Law Firm Magazine,
Proskauer (Nov. 3, 2009), http://www.proskauer.com/
news/press-releases/mlf-50-november-3-2009/.
32
Winter 2012
Since the move, we have had remarkably few requests for materials that we no longer own. We
have, however, had to show attorneys how to access materials online more often. The weeding of
the print collection focused it on the current practice of law within Proskauer and the collection continues to be heavily used. Going forward, the library’s growth will be focused on electronic resources. The library has had increasing requests for
electronic access to resources on varying electronic
devices: PCs, laptops, mobile phones and now tablets and e-book readers (largely iPads but also Kindles and other ebook readers). In response, the
library has increased our electronic holdings and
worked with vendors to have their databases available on different devices. We are currently working on the possibility of migrating to electronic
deskbooks for attorneys, creating records and links
in the catalog to electronic resources, continually
presenting new databases to attorneys, provide
training on existing electronic resources and finding
a place on the Intranet for some quick reference
widgets now that vendors have developed
them. The library has been and will continue to be
active in the knowledge management initiatives of
the firm but that is another story. We are busier
than ever with research requests. That the firm
continues to rely on us for their research needs and
development of future resources demonstrates our
continued value in the midst of all of these changes. Needless to say at this point, it is an exciting
time to be a librarian at Proskauer.
catalog. Our goal was to enable users to find the
answers to most of their questions within the first
page. We created an icon to represent our catalog
that makes it more prominent on the page, and not
surprisingly more people are finding and using
it. The library had also accumulated over 1400
practice specific links that we had organized into
separate web pages in the old Intranet. In the new
Intranet these links are all in a sort-able list on the
second tab called Research Links. These links can
help attorneys find information on the web more
efficiently. There is a third tab, called Research
Guides, where guides authored by Proskauer librarians can give an attorney a topic specific starting
point. Topics include practice areas like bankruptcy
and research types like federal legislative history. These guides typically include both web and
print resources.
Minutes of the November
LLAGNY Board Meeting
- O’Melveny & Myers, November 9, 2011
In attendance: Caren Biberman, William Mills,
Janice Henderson, Heidi Bliss, Karen Provost, Patricia Barbone, Jacob Sayward, Nancy Rine
The meeting convened at approximately 6:10pm.
Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting – Motion
to approve the minutes from September 19, 2011.
Approve (Barbone). Second (Mills).
Student Relations – Karen Provost submitted
two LLAGNY FAQs that the Student Relations
committee had been working on for approval:
Membership Dues and Volunteer Opportunities
Benefits of Student Membership
These FAQs will be distributed at local library
schools and student events.
33
proposals submitted by the Special Events Chair for
the 2012 Winter Meeting and approved Planet Hollywood for Wednesday, January 11th. The cost to
members will be $30. Approve (Barbone). Second
(Mills).
BTG Report – Discussion was held on the Recommendations from the Bridge the Gap Special
Committee. It was moved to adopt the recommendations one to three, with the exception that the
Board will defer the decision on whether LLAGNY
should apply for approved provider status until after the Committee has completed the required CLE
programs. Approved (Sayward). Second (Mills).
Further discussion was held on Recommendation
four. It was the consensus of the Board that there
was no need to formally approve the recommendation as it falls within the original charge of the Committee.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:55pm.
Vendor Fair & All day LLAGNY Program –
Caren Biberman discussed creating an all-day event
for LLAGNY members that would include a vendor
exhibit hall, an afternoon of educational programs
for all areas of law libraries, and an opportunity for
networking. The date will be towards the end of
May 2012.
Listserv and Website policies – Motion to
change “site” to “listserv” in the Discussion Forum
Rules and Conditions. Approve (Bliss). Second
(Rine).
Winter 2012
Approval of flyer for Advanced Google program – Motion to approve the flyer for the November 16th Teaching Advanced Google program. Approve (Barbone). Second (Henderson).
Winter Meeting – The Board looked over the
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Provost, LLAGNY Secretary
- Cahill, Gordon & Reindel LLP, December 7, 2011
In attendance: Caren Biberman, Heidi Bliss, Bill
Mills, Ellen Kaufman, Jacob Sawyard, Janice Henderson, Karen Provost, Sadys Espitia
The meeting convened at approximately 6:10pm.
Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting – motion
to approve the minutes from November 9,
2011. Approve (Mills). Second (Henderson).
Treasurer’s Report – postponed until the next
meeting.
Approve (Bliss). Second (Espitia).
PLL Summit and Additional AALL Grants –
Caren updated the Board on the activities of
the PLL Summit in Boston. The Board is considering additional Grants for the Summit and the
Annual Conference. The Grants Committee will
make recommendations for how much they
may need and for which events.
Minutes of the December
LLAGNY Board Meeting
Bylaws Committee – Caren discussed the need
to create a special committee to examine
LLAGNY’s current Bylaws and update them if
necessary.
Motion to approve the creation of a special
Bylaws Committee to review each Bylaw
and make recommendations for changes to
the Board. Approve (Bliss). Second (Mills).
Janice Henderson was appointed Chair of
this committee.
34
Appointment of Nominations Committee
Chair – the Board discussed several candidates
for Chair of the Nominations Committee.
Caren will contact our nominee.
There was also a motion to allow the LawLines and Technology Committees to investigate options for an alternative site for our
newsletter.
Winter 2012
HeinOnline and LawLines – With the recent
creation of a new database for AALL chapter
newsletters in HeinOnline, Jacob Sayward discussed adding LawLines to this database. He
will follow up with the Board at a future meeting.
Minutes of the January LLAGNY
Board Meeting
- Planet Hollywood, January 11, 2012
In attendance: Caren Biberman, Patricia Barbone,
Heidi Bliss, Bill Mills, Jacob Sayward, Sadys Espitia,
Karen Provost, Ellen Kaufman, Janice Henderson
Outreach Committee – Janice Henderson updated the Board. Specific topics for the program will be set up to discuss at the next Meeting. The Committee is planning to hold the CLE
programming in June.
The meeting convened at approximately 5pm.
Approval of Minutes of last meeting – motion
to approve the minutes from December 7,
2011. Approve (Bliss). Second (Patricia).
Nomination of Gitelle Seer for Life Membership – Motion to approve the nomination by
Patricia Barbone. Second (Mills). Motion approved.
Treasurer’s report was provided to the Board.
Any questions will be addressed at the next
meeting.
Special Bylaws Committee – the first meeting
of the Bylaws Committee will be held in late
January. Members of the Committee include
Heidi Bliss, Sadys Espitia, Janet Accardo, Martha Goldman and Liz Evans. They will give their
recommendations by May 2012.
Patricia Barbone brought a motion to approve
a template for PLI Briefings so that new programs could be posted on the LLAGNY website
without Board approval. Second (Sayward).
Motion approved.
35
Educational Committee updates – Heidi Bliss
brought a motion to allow Caren Biberman to
proceed with the Greg Castanias program with
a budget to be determined at a future meeting.
Second (Barbone). There will be a reception
following the speech and all participants will be
encouraged to bring their Library Partner, Executive Directors, COO’s, etc.
Upcoming programs may include talks on Digital Licensing and Social Media Monitoring.
Winter 2012
Reporting on the Grants and Scholarship Committee, Sadys Espitia discussed several options
with the Board. These included simplifying the
application process, setting up an additional
“general interest” grant, earmarking specific
grants and scholarships for court and other non
-law firm librarians, and distributing grants for
travel or registration fees.
- Karen Grushka
As a group of nine, we ambled down West Broadway, our faces red from a midday winter’s
wind. We strolled in a staggered formation along
the city’s wide sidewalks, a cheerful procession of
hungry librarians.
Restaurant Week in New York draws diners from all
over the city
to enjoy prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus at otherwise cost-prohibitive establishments. For us, at
New York Law School, Restaurant Week meant a
leisurely lunch on a Thursday afternoon at the Palm
Restaurant (206 West Street) in Tribeca.
From the outside, there is nothing remarkable
about the Palm. Its palm-tree-painted window and
venetian blinds are reminiscent of my childhood winter holidays with my grandmother in Florida,
early-bird specials and all-you-can-eat buffets in
yellow-lit restaurants. The Palm, of course, from
the inside, is far more distinguished than the eateries in Fort Lauderdale.
From the vestibule, we can see the large expanse
of The Palm. Waiters in stiff, white aprons carry
themselves with remarkable posture and congeniality. The restaurant’s walls are covered in photos,
paintings and caricatures of the many Hollywood
superstars that the restaurant has fed (I recognize
some, but not all, and realize that while I am scurrying about the library, nabbing books from the
shelves, wrapped in a frenzy of packing tape and
shipping labels, there is a whole world of fame and
fortune passing me by).
Finally, post bread basket (a delicious selection of
sourdough slices with fruits and nuts, white rolls
with onion, and packets of crunchy breadsticks),
after much feigned patience and a few form pleasantries (I use these to mask gnawing hunger and a
twitching leg), our appetizers arrive. I have ordered
a mixed green salad with a vinaigrette, tomatoes
and other assorted vegetables. Others have ordered an oyster chowder, an impressively thicklooking soup in extra-large bowls.
My salad is flavorful, but somewhat over-dressed
and over-salted, neither of which is so offensive
that I do not finish everything on my plate. My coworkers slurping the oyster soup all proclaim the
deliciousness of the dish, and I can only assume by
their empty bowls that they were either as hungry
as I, or particularly satisfied with their food.
For an entrée, I eat the daily special, a baked filet of
Atlantic salmon with sliced and fried plantains, and
a green, cilantro-based chimichurri sauce. My colleague orders the not-so-special daily special: a pan
-seared Atlantic salmon filet, sitting idly in a puddle
of creamy, red pepper sauce, not a speck of green
on the plate. My own fish is slightly tough and over
-cooked, and the chimichurri serves more as a garnish than as part of the flavor profile. As a side, I
request the baked squash with cherries; this too is
overcooked, and bathed in butter and salt, so that
each hungry bite makes me question whether another is worthwhile.
36
Winter 2012
We nine, who have an unapologetic taste for gourmet cuisine, sit among other diners arranged in
small, careful groups, and dressed in suits and
buckled brown shoes. The waiter, whose bald head
gleams brilliantly below the high white ceilings, is
supernaturally pleasant when pressed for details
on the daily dishes, smiling humbly and graciously. So much so, that I almost forget my inclination
for impatience, my ineptitude for sitting still, my
wonderment at the time it takes to place our drink
orders, to wait for our drink orders, to place our
appetizer, entree and dessert requests, to watch
other patrons’ plates go in and out in and out in
and out of the kitchen (all this waiting does provide
time to note, however, the large number of "half
and half" plates --- cottage fries and friend onions -- returning from table to dishwasher; I steer clear
of the “half and half” during the course of the
meal).
Restaurant Week at the Palm in
Tribeca
37
The others at the table order the steak, a 10-oz
aged black Angus, with a peppercorn gravy and
mashed potatoes. I can see the look of pure delight
on the faces of my co-workers as they savor the
tender meat and drink its thin, red juices. They
seem less delighted with the family-style “half-andhalf” (described above), a mountainous and perturbing combination of deeply fried yet deeply soggy root vegetables.
Dessert, usually the most redemptive part of any
meal, is a choice of key-lime pie, or flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream and raspberries. I
opt for the pie as a sort of ascetic gesture, since I
have a mild obsession with chocolate. Again, I am
disappointed; the key-lime is too sweet, and conceals the graceful acidity of the citrus. The flourless
chocolate cake, however, ranks higher, but again, is
too rich, too heavy, too eager to impress.
It is unlikely that I will revisit the Palm Restaurant
(unless, of course, I renege on my years of vegetarianism) in the near future. At close to $26 before
tax and tip, the menu, I believe, is overpriced; it is
unclear whether the food fares better during nonRestaurant weeks, but I suppose I will never know.
Not, at least, until I find my picture hanging on the
walls of the Palm, next to Madonna, or maybe even
Cher.
Law Lines welcomes restaurant reviews from across
the City. If you want to share about a restaurant
near your office or around town, please contact us.
Winter 2012
38
Winter 2012
39
Winter 2012

Law Lines Vol. 35 No. 2 Winter 2012

Transcription

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